Libyan rebels take border post, await US drones

MISRATA, Libya: Libyan rebels fighting Muammar al-Gaddafi were set to receive a boost from NATO, with the United States deploying unmanned armed drones as France, Britain and Italy send military advisers. US President Barack Obama authorised deployment of missile-carrying drone warplanes over Libya "because of the humanitarian situation," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. Libyan rebels, who on Thursday overran a post on the Tunisian border to mark their first advance in weeks against Gaddafi's forces, have complained that civilians are being killed in places like Misrata. "Our houses are being hit by bombs and rockets," said 45-year-old Ibrahim Issa Abu Hajjar, who fled Misrata with hundreds of civilians aboard a Turkish ferry that docked Thursday in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi. "We want the allies to stop Gaddafi's forces from taking the city."...